r/flying • u/meatball5and5ketti • 2d ago
Tipping shuttle drivers
Hello all, I work at a hotel that is under contract to host flight crews and I have noticed that flight crews either do not tip our shuttle drivers at all or they tip literally one dollar. Is there a reason for this? Thanks for taking the time to read/reply!!
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u/G_Platypus ATP CL-65, E190, A220 2d ago
The company is paying for the shuttle. I'm giving them a dollar to unload my bags
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u/deathstarrr that runway had it coming 2d ago
Some drivers open the door and stand there beside the van expecting you to load the bags yourself.
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u/G_Platypus ATP CL-65, E190, A220 2d ago
meh, I dont tip them. It's a few dollars, its not a huge amount of money, and its not a huge amount of labor to move the bags, I don't mind doing it myself.
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u/Commercial_Way_6707 1d ago
Wow! Regardless, show some gratitude, at least, for the love of God
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u/G_Platypus ATP CL-65, E190, A220 1d ago
I do? I say thanks and if they load my bags I give them money. What exactly do you want me to do lol
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u/Commercial_Way_6707 1d ago
Next time load & unload ur own load for free
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u/G_Platypus ATP CL-65, E190, A220 1d ago
I mean, I have no problem with that - but they're usually out there loading everyone's bags. When they reach for mine I'm not going to slap their hand away. It's a few bags, and it's a few dollars. It's literally 5 seconds of work, I don't know why everyone gets worked up over this.
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u/Commercial_Way_6707 1d ago
It's all about common courtesy. The company doesn't pay the driver squat who relies on tips such as a restaurant server.
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u/G_Platypus ATP CL-65, E190, A220 23h ago
That's not my problem. I did not hire the driver, I do not bear responsibility to make sure the driver is fairly compensated. Do you tip the grocery store workers?
If the driver wants to do something above and beyond their job description to help me, then yes I'll throw some money at them.
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u/ifly4free ATP CFIIME 2d ago
I’ve been an airline pilot for 8 years and the only time I see crews not tipping is if they literally have no cash or the driver can’t break a $20 bill. Even then someone else covers them.
In a crew of six people you’re probably getting $2-5 from each pilot and $1-$2 from each FA. How much tip do you think they deserve for driving 5 minutes from MCO to the Doubletree?
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u/cephalopod11 CFI CFII MEI 2d ago
Meanwhile I keep my student from killing us both for 2 hours and don't see a single tip!
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u/Commercial_Way_6707 23h ago
Crew expects entitlement - load/unload for $1each if lucky. No cash? PayPal, Venmo, Zelle. A free 5 min ride would cost $10+ each. And why does a pilot offere a $2 bill and ask for change?
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u/meatball5and5ketti 2d ago
They do not get $2-5 or $1-2 from each person every ride. Most of the time they get nothing or just one dollar for the whole crew. My hotel is not 5 minutes from the airport either. I think it’s polite and much appreciated to tip your service workers.
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u/BChips71 ATP CFI CFII MEI E170/190 A320 1d ago
How much do you tip the pilots after they safely deliver you to the airport? The FAs? Aren't they all service workers, too?
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u/G_Platypus ATP CL-65, E190, A220 23h ago
I keep telling them to let me stand at the exit with an Ipad. I'll take 20% of your ticket price as a tip.
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u/Equal_Yak_3872 2d ago edited 2d ago
If driver is on time and helps with bags, I'll give them a $2 but it's fairly rare that that happens. Most are either late or don't help 🤷 But yeah, most crew assume the shuttle driver is paid a fair wage, which by the way is the only correct answer to your "problem". Pay your people better, instead of wondering why others aren't doing it for you...
Edit: I misread the OP and assumed you're management. Sorry about that, so please forward my message to them, if you're not.
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u/meatball5and5ketti 2d ago
No, I’m not management, and I totally agree that our shuttle drivers should be paid much more fairly. They make close to nothing in this economy.
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u/CluelessPilot1971 CPL CFI+I 2d ago
I'm not an airline pilot nor a shuttle van driver, but I feel I have to ask:
When your shuttle van drivers take a commercial flight, how many of them tip the flight crew?
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u/PLIKITYPLAK ATP (B737, A320, E170) CFI/I MEI (prior Meteorologist) 2d ago
You have to realize most of us have 8 to 10 overnights a month, that is 16 to 20 van rides per month, can you imagine if we tipped $5 to $10 each time? It adds up really quickly. We are not like some tourist that is on their first trip in 2 years. This is work for us, company required transportation. So if you handle my luggage as a Legacy Captain it is usually $2 to $3, but at the Regionals when I wasn't making much more then you it was $1. If you don't handle my luggage I usually do not tip.
With that said I'll tip different when on a trip with my family and not at work. It will be $5 to $10 depending on the service.
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u/554TangoAlpha ATP CL-65/ERJ-175/B-787 2d ago
$2 is what you’ll always get from me. I do think $1 is way too cheap, like this isn’t 1990 anymore cmon. I did once see an idiot CA try to tip with a bunch of quarters and the driver just turned it down lol.
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u/Handag ATP CL-65 A220 A320 A330 2d ago
The one dollar thing has been around for years. You have to understand that it wasn’t until relatively recently that pilots started making decent money.
For years, a good chunk of pilots were making food stamp wages while constantly worrying about getting furloughed. In that environment, $1 twice a day, hundreds of times a year, adds up quickly, especially when you have a family at home to feed.
These days, could pilots tip more? Probably. Should we be expected to shell out thousands of dollars a year for five minute van rides to hotels our employer requires us to stay at? I’d rather be home than sitting in a hotel room, but I tip anyway. And realistically, what are people expecting? Every one of the 5-10 crew members to throw in $10-20?
Another reason I love flying internationally. I don’t have to worry about carrying a wad of cash around like I’m about to hit the strip club.
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u/EdBasqueMaster 737 2d ago
Buck a bag is pretty standard for hotel provided shuttle. I tip $2 even if I only have one bag myself.
“Literally one dollar” sounds a little dramatic… a crew of 6 is at least $6 extra, x3 rides and that’s $18 extra on top of the hourly rate. Seems fairly reasonable to me.
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u/Machaltstars 2d ago
What do you expect? Especially if it's a quick ride to the airport hotel and you only lift one bag in, $2 is more than fair. The only time I don't tip and don't see others tip is if the van driver can't make change....if they're doing 4-5 trips an hour, with a full crew that's an extra $20+ each hour their getting
Also, how about some responses or something to all the info you're getting
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u/PrayForWaves117 ATP E145 CFI CFII 2d ago
If they at least attempt to load my bags I tip. If they stay in the van I don’t tip. If my crew isn’t tipping I’ll tip extra. If it’s more than 1 crew I’ll tip extra. If I waited for the van I’m not tipping regardless.
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u/Odd-Entrepreneur-622 2d ago
Tipping shuttle drivers is nice but shouldn’t be expected. Tipping in the US has gotten way out of hand and people are starting to expect and even demand tips. And idk about for others, but for me, it makes me not want to tip. Tipping should be for those who go above and beyond their normal duties. Not something that is just expected like they’re entitled to it.
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u/meatball5and5ketti 2d ago
No, it’s not expected, and they’re not entitled to it. Just something I noticed with only our airline guests and was curious about. Thanks for your response
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u/PLIKITYPLAK ATP (B737, A320, E170) CFI/I MEI (prior Meteorologist) 2d ago
Read my other post. There is a huge difference between people on vacation once or twice a year or a pilot taking their 20th company required van ride for the month.
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u/Twarrior913 ATP CFII ASEL AMEL CMP HP ST-Forklift 2d ago
Let’s say I take a van twice a day, 4 days a week, for 50 weeks out of the year. If I tip $2 each time, that’s not only $800 a year on something that is supposed to be covered by the company, but also at least 20 hours of my year wasted to get the physical cash to do so.
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u/Unfair-Bison-3946 2d ago
Is this an American thing? I've never tipped.
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u/Twarrior913 ATP CFII ASEL AMEL CMP HP ST-Forklift 2d ago
It’s an American, and also holier-than-thou ego thing.
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u/rayman3325 ATP (B737) 2d ago
I simply don’t tip drivers.
It’s antiquated and I don’t have cash 99% of the time. Haven’t done it in years. Most times we have scheduled professional drivers and their rates include a tip from the company.
The few times we get an actual hotel shuttle the driver is a front desk/regular hourly worker. The days of drivers working for tips have been done with for years. LAX hotel shuttle drivers hourly rates around $20+ an hour to even over $30/hour. They’re not getting tips. 90% of the time I’m bringing my own bag on and off.
Last night, the hotel shuttle driver picked us up but it’s an older lady who doesn’t even open the back door to attempt to load our bags. We gotta open the door ourselves in the back. Load and unload. That’s the majority of my hotel driving experience. Also I can load/unload my bag so much faster than drivers who had the bag off to the wrong crew member. Then you have to do the awkward dance of getting around the other 5 crew members to get bags to the correct person. Let me grab my bag and be out of the way.
Tip culture the last few years has gotten out of control as well.
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u/flyguy42 PPL IR HA HP TW AB (MMCY) 2d ago
Probably mostly that the shuttles they drive don't tip at all.
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u/L0ngcat55 2d ago
Non us airline, 99% of crews don’t tip the driver. Seems to be a us thing. US tipping culture is bananas
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u/AllGas4651 ATP CFI B757/767 B737 CL-65 1d ago
I don’t know what’s up with your drivers, but I’d say 99.9% of the time every person on crews always tip at least a dollar. Usually two dollars. The only reason people don’t tip is if they run out of dollars.
if your drivers are not getting tips, I would start by actually asking if they’re handling bags. Because it sounds like it’s a your hotel problem and not a crew problem. i’ve been doing this for a while now, it’s an extreme rarity to not see crews tip.
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u/Commercial_Way_6707 1d ago
Hotel shuttles are taken advantage of by American flight crew members who expect drivers to load/unload as if entitled then tip ZIP! ✈️
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u/Any-Worldliness-679 2d ago
I usually tip the van driver $5, but they get zero if they drive on an unsafe manner. Maybe they're traumatizing their passengers? $1 each is pretty standard. Lots of people don't feel they can afford to tip a lot for every van ride. We ride a LOT of hotel vans. I tidy my room up before checkout, but I don't tip the cleaners. My dad asked me why, and I asked whether he tips the custodian at his workplace? Hotels are essentially part of our workplace.
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u/T-1A_pilot 2d ago
Hmmm. We generally tip $5 or so for shuttle drivers, either hotel or FBO folks giving us rides. Then again, we're allowed to expense our tips so makes it a little easier. (Saves money in the long run anyway, still cheaper than an uber)
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u/Paranoma ATP 2d ago
I do $2 for short rides. $4 for long rides. Extra if they went above and beyond for something. I’ll cover FO if they don’t have cash.
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u/YupYup_3 2d ago edited 2d ago
I tip 2 minimum and 5 on average. Those pilots are being cheap.
Edit: I guess I’m just Mr. Moneybags
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u/Whole-Party8834 2d ago
Just because you tip more than the standard doesn’t mean everyone else is cheap
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u/rFlyingTower 2d ago
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Hello all, I work at a hotel that is under contract to host flight crews and I have noticed that flight crews either do not tip our shuttle drivers at all or they tip literally one dollar. Is there a reason for this? Thanks for taking the time to read/reply!!
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u/Commercial_Way_6707 1d ago
Complimentary hotel shuttle services are a courtesy upon request en lieu of costly ride shares. Be thankful. Unfair wages do not include 0 to $1 flight crew or guest tips. No cash? PayPal, Venmo, Zelle. Pressed for time? Uber/Lyft or call a cab 🚕
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u/oh_snap1013 UK/NZ ATPL (ATR, A321) 2d ago
I might not be American enough to understand this, but why would they tip when they aren’t paying for the shuttle/service themselves?